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RPlog:The Trandoshan Expedition
Sinestra had not been very talkative on the long shuttle ride out to Trandosha. There were datapads in her hands the entire way being read studiously; that, or she was going out of her way to ignore the blathering on by the protocol droid that had 'been assigned' to come with her. Much of the same information that had been in the briefing has been rehashed several times over by now as he continues on fruitfully about the relative highlights (and subsequent dangers of) the planet they were heading to, including an impromptu lesson about the Empire's past history with Trandoshans and the Wookiee Slavery movement. The droid, which had only been referred to once by Sinestra as 'Aryuu' as they boarded, also has a tendency to think that 'please stop talking' means 'please stop talking for a few minutes and then resume conversing in a way that makes everyone want to stab themselves in the face', so if anyone had attempted to request a moment of peace and silence during the journey, a moment is all they would have been afforded. By the time Trandosha came up on the forward viewscreen, he finally shut up, and has not been heard from since. That could be because Sinestra left him back at the shuttle. "Two hovercraft have been procured for the mission," Sinestra comments to those in the recon party, gesturing to the two vehicles in the back of the shuttle's small cargo bay. "The terrain is going to be rough to negotiate. I hope your flight certifications came with hazard training." They're already loaded up with gear in the back, leaving enough room for the bodies of those present to fit in and little else. When the hatch drops down to enable them to leave the shuttle, a hot wave of muggy and oppressive air sweeps in. The fog on the horizon obscures vision after a short distance. Passing back a datapad to Danik she says, "The maps aren't going to help you much if you get lost in the fog, so everyone needs to stay together." With that she'll move to sit inside one of the craft as if she's ready to go- but she's sure not going to fly it. Sinestra pages: You're more than welcome to help me run things along by issuing whatever orders are needed to get people in position or what have you- I figure one of them could pilot one craft and the other could pilot the other. You could ride with one and I could ride with the other. Breya spent the entirety of the travel to Trandosha in unsociable silence, her attention fixed on whatever it was she was writing in her data recorder. Occasionally, she'd purse her lips in concentration, as if trying to remember a word. Once in a great while, she would look up from her rear position in the control area of the ship, glancing at the others sharing this trip with her. She was unflinching in those moments when someone noticed her looking at them. In her own time, she would turn back to her writing, silent as a shadow. The disturbance of the droid she seemed to relegate to the back of her mind as "general ship noise", though it could have been "Aryuu"'s continuous noise that made her writing so labored. Arriving on Trandosha, little changed in the light haired woman's demeanor. Aloof, she sighed heavily at one point when the thick, muggy air entered the shuttle, intermingling with the comfortable, processed air she had enjoyed during the flight. Aside from the sigh, she seemed to internalize any other complaints she might have regarding the heat, the moistness of the air, or the continuous, moldy smell of over-ripe vegetation and the insects which infested such places. To the leader's remark, Breya says quietly, "The hazard training I received did not include swamp lands, but I will try to stay close, ma'am." Lionheart sitting on the shuttle ready for anything and everything that you could possibly think of, and everthing that he could think of. The droid was the only thing moving and talking and also the occasional shutup at the droid. The rest were either driving or writing things down in their datapad. Seeking the answers as to what the journey would be like on the planet was the only thing Lionheart was doing. He sometimes shot a glance to see if they were close to any planet. Holding onto the bars of the seat as they were hyperdrive was like hanging onto your life on the trip to hell. Although now they had gotten close. Lionheart could feels it the heat of the planet increasing on them. And he could see it, the green and blue of the planet. He now knew what he must do. He must complete this mission. Danik Kreldin mostly remained quiet throughout the trip to Trandosha, his eyes closed and his mind shut to the outside world. He ignored the droid that had came along with the female advisor who was assigned to their little expedition. The exact reasons for the expedition eluded Danik, besides his rank and position in the government and military, or who this lady was. He just knew it had to be done and not to disrespect the lady. Not that he would disrespect any other lady, but there was something different with this one. Danik opened his eyes once the ship exited hyperspace. He stood up, placed his fedora atop his head, and walked to the back of the shuttle to get things ready. Following their touch down on the planet's surface, Kreldin stepped down the ramp and turned his attention to Sinestra, their advisor. He took the datapad in hand and quickly scanned over it. "Yeah.. very well, we should be fine," he said, turning his attention back to the two pilots who were assigned. "Ensigns Crimson and Marie.. you two will drive a hovercraft each. Stay close to each other and mind the fog." Danik would probably drive better, as he had experience in tough terrain with ground-based vehicles (being a veteran swoop racer and all), but he was leading now and he had to let the younger generation get the experience. It would help them out in the future. Sitting down in one of the hovercrafts, Kreldin kept his eyes glued to the datapad as he memorized the map. "It probably didn't include volcanos either," Sinestra concludes as she settles into her seat, securing her safety strap to keep her in place should something go amiss with the vehicle along the way. "So stay sharp. These vehicles have been modified to handle the intense heat and humidity, but they won't travel over a lava flow." It looks like she's wound up in the hovercraft that Breya is to drive. "I'll let you know if I spot anything on the radar." There is actually a radar, but whether or not she'll look at it to determine if they need to quickly change directions is another matter entirely. With those comforting words imparted, it would appear the time has come to depart from the safety of the shuttle. What little well-regulated cooling the space-faring vessel had provided is gone not two feet from the entry. The oppressive air is muggy with humidity that makes it almost feel like trying to breathe underwater, and not even the breeze provided by the forward movement of the hovercraft can assuage it. What doesn't help is that the terrain the craft are soon over is showing painfully obvious signs of the underlying volcanic activity; while there are safe tracts of land to follow, the loose mud around them belches toxic gasses and noxious fumes every so often, hard to see until the craft are right up on it due to the low visibility. It isn't a pretty planet, and it's no wonder the Trandoshans only use it as a breeding ground before dispatching themselves back out into the rest of the galaxy. After one particularly large cliff is transversed, the topography of the map and the path ahead no longer seem to coincide. What was once a very safe passage of land between two large seas of ooze now appears to have been liquefied into a veritable lake of bubbling activity bridging between them. Picking up a comlink, Sinestra radios over to Danik's craft, "We're going to have to go across. Going around it's going to lose us hours." Breya is indicated to drive forward... across the dangerous passage, which bubbles up bursts of gasses and heat in sporatic patterns. Breya's attention was completely on the guide, especially at the mention of volcanoes. So enrapt was she as they made their way to the hovercrafts that she stepped fully into a puddle, ruining the high-gloss shine of one of her boots. Pulling that foot out of the bog brought forth a moist, sucking sound from the mud, and another, heavy sigh from the otherwise cool and silent woman. An attempt to shake off the majority of the mud from that boot was made before entering the vehicle, but only a minor attempt. The goo was thick and sticky. The controls of the hovercraft were unfamiliar to Ensign Marie, but not so different as to be completely alien or unusable to her. Taking a seat gingerly in the pilot's position, she adjusted the safety harness, toggled a number of switches forward and back to attain an initial diagnostic reading, then casually engaged the starting mechanism. The craft thrummed to life, the back wash of the hover mechanism tossing a spray of thick, viscous mud up and onto the hull and landing ramp of the ship that had bore them to Trandosha. She paid it no mind as she pedaled the forwarding mechanism, launching the vehicle into a forward movement greater than what she expected. She over-corrected, corrected the over-correction, then continued on smoothly, jaw clenched and knuckles white on the controls. The traversal of the particularly large cliff left butterflies in Breya's stomach. Sinestra's next words to Danik, indicating moving across the dangerous expance, slew those butterflies instantly, leaving a feeling like a cold stone in the pit of her belly. Nodding a single, curt nod, she accelerated further, hoping that the limits of the craft. and its pilot. was not about to be tested. Lionheart hearing the word valcano and the words drive straight through penetrate the quiet and calm inside of the small hovercraft. Sweat starts to appear on Lionheart's neck and trickle down his back as if he were in a shower and he says,"Captian are you sure you want me to drive straight though."Looking out in front of him he sees a lava pit in front of him. Yelling,"Hold on Captian!"he swerves the craft to just barely miss the lava pit. He starts to ease himself again knowing that he should remain calm and show leadership skills to the shadow next to him he says,"Never mind sir, I got it under control." Danik did not know much about Trandosha until recently; his twenty year career in the Empire never took him to this forsaken planet, and he was quite fortunate. But, when he was told there was a recon to the planet, he immediately began to investigate the planet. Its geography, climate, history, culture. It certainly wasn't a pretty planet, evident by when his hovercraft, piloted by Lionheart, exited the safety and comfort of the Conqueror 3. "Ever pilot a hovercraft before? It doesn't really matter.. if you can pilot a TIE, this should be a piece of cake," he said, a hint of confusion in his voice as he compared the map he was given to his real surroundings. He certainly wasn't comfortable with the current situation, seeing as how dangerous it was. Just whose idea was this expedition, anyway? His comlink beeped, and Kreldin quickly responded. "..Right. It's a bit dangerous, but, it's possible," he said, but was cut off from any further communication when Lionheart swirved the craft. Kreldin was thrown to one side of the craft, and when he regained his composure he tapped Lionheart on the shoulder. "Watch what you're doing!" he said, and then leaned back againts his seat and exhaled heavily. When Lionheart voiced his concerns about the passage, Kreldin merely grinned. "Of course we're going across it, son. Drive carefully, now, will ya?" he said, taking his fedora off and wiping some sweat away from his forehead. The disturbingly wide mud flow churns and gurgles as the two vehicles make their way across the surface. Ripples are the only indication that a gaseous eruption is about to occur, and with the speed at which the vehicles are travelling, it's not a very accurate way of being able to predict how to steer as a result. Tiny blorps of goo do little more than splash up along the undercarriage of the craft, but the larger ones release enough of a pocket of sulfuric air that it could well shift the craft (or threaten to flip it over)... and the pilots have little more than instinct at their disposal to figure out which will be which. That's not taking into consideration the fumes themselves... they are violently sulfuric, smelling putrid and almost making one light-headed if they're driven through a direct eruption of large enough size. The mud that splatters from some of these bursts reeks of the fumes and is exceptionally warm to the touch, not enough to burn the skin but enough to make it vastly unpleasant if it should come into that kind of contact with a body. The other side of this lake is a return to the flat lands, a penninsula that is tracked on either side by the same voluminous seas of gorgling mud, but perfectly safe if driven down the center. The cliffs begin to spike up again, and there are several visible cave openings up and down the sides as the path winds along. The destination on the map is exceptionally close. As Breya manages her craft, thick, bubbles of heated gas burst beneath the hovercraft. The vehicle had been modified to withstand the increased heat and moisture of the planet, but those modifications only went so far as to keep the vehicle operational, if not unstable. With one particularly thick ejection from the flow on their port side, the hovercraft is lifted and dropped back down, jarring its passengers heavily and causing the craft to drift sharply to one side. Hands moving quickly over the controls, Ensign Marie engages a starboard maneuvering jet heavily to keep the vehicle from being pitched off their only safe passage on that side. Once more, she over-corrects, threatening to spill the vehicle over on their port side. Killing the starboard stabilizer for a moment, the craft lurches back towards the correct direction, rotating in a slow, flat spin such that the front of the craft is pointed away from the path of safety, forty-five degrees towards the starboard. Hands shaking from nerves or effort, Breya manages the controls to reverse the course of their spinning, until once again, they're moving along under full control, the ship's attitude correct. A warning indicator lights up to a warm red on the dash board, indicating elevated heat and stress on the starboard side controls. Ensign Marie's eyes flicker momentarily to the warning indicator, then back toward to the fore of the ship. This sort of terrain had definitely been omitted from the hazard training she'd undergone. Relief, palpable and appreciable, emanates from Ensign Marie as they make their way onto the sea of gurgling mud. A rooster-tail of mud flies up behind the craft as they pass along at high speeds. As Breya kicks the craft to the next level of acceleration, she hopes that Ensign Crimson is aware of the spray of mud behind her, and makes appropriate corrections to his flight path. Lionheart now paying full attention to the surroundings of the wrecked planet notices some buildup of ground and notices now that the molten lava has turned into mud. following Ensign Marie he notices her accelerate and sees a blob of mud form behind her immediatlly he yells", Hang on sir!" He serves again but this time entirely misses the blob and stables the craft again. Showing that he know what he is doing he motions to Danik that, once again, it is under control. Then he turns the comlink on a hisses nicely but quickly",Thanks for the warning fly girl," Then he smiles turns the comlink off and waits. Waits for the harder part to begin... If there is one. Danik had never encountered this sort of terrain before, either; his service in the military and his swoop career took him to many exotic and dangerous locations, but never one such as this. "Keep her steady, son," the aging Danik said to the young Ensign Crimson. "You'll be compenstated if you recieve any injuries, don't worry." Danik's eyes had been off the datapad for a while now, seeing as how it wasn't very reliable anymore, and instead kept his gaze forward. Ensign Marie was handling her craft well, as expected; she was a more experienced pilot than Crimson, or so he was told. Danik held on as Lionheart piloted around some dangerous build-ups, his head shaking disapprovingly. This was too dangerous. They could have gone the other route, however longer it took. Were they there yet? Some mud splashed up and onto the seat next to Danik, missing him by a few centimeters. Moving slightly over in his seat to the other side, Danik mumbled some complaints under his breath and just waited for this little trip to the safe side to end. Sinestra is oddly unphased by the paces the pilots are being put through to get them to their final destination. Most other advisors would probably have been gripping at the handles of the doors and cursing this trecherous assignment that had brought them out into the middle of forsaken nowhere, but not this woman. Goggles in place over her eyes and hair tied back, her pale skin sweats but the expression on her face doesn't shift from a thin lipped stare of focus off onto the foggy horizon. When the hovercraft takes that ill-fated pass over the sulfuric eruption, sending it twisting, rocking and ultimately spinning about, Sinestra is motionless... right up until the hovercraft's warning lights begin to cycle on due to the stress its components are being placed under. It's at that point that the woman reaches forward enough to put a hand on the dashboard, giving it a comforting stroke of her fingers as she murmurs, "Shh." Breya may notice, as perhaps a point of coincidence, that the heat on that taxed engine is lessened just a touch as the heat in the air in the 'cabin area' about them rises for a moment. By then of course, the pilot seems to have everything under control, and Sinestra's hand returns to her lap where it was before. As the ground shifts to become solid, Sinestra directs Breya towards one of the central valleys. "The cave we're looking for is right around this bend," she explains, pointing up ahead and to the right. "See if you can't find someplace level to stop." There aren't very many level places near the cave mouth that will become clear as they round the final turn, but there are some lower down. Using the comlink, she radios over to Danik's craft, "This is it, up ahead. It may be a slight climb." Slight. Heh. The danger does not seem to have passed after all. "My apologies, Ensign," Breya keys the communicator, responding to Lionheart's admonishment. In spite of the elevated level of stress that came from piloting an unfamiliar craft through dangerous, hostile terrain, her voice is cool, as it had been when she and Ensign Crimson had first met in the hangar of the _Conqueror_. Sinestra's coaxing of the engine to be still is taken in by Breya as a matter of course, the quirky, humanization of equipment and vehicles that is common amongst pilots and technicians in the outer rim. While she herself hadn't ever found herself projecting such emotions or feelings towards inanimate objects, she didn't harbor any grudge towards those that did. With the elevated heat in the passenger area of the craft, Breya's cheeks flush, and thin beeds of perspiration form on her brow and turn to trails of sweat down the side of her face. It was obviously the heat from the gaseous eruptions taking place all around them. She would be well relieved when they left this place for cooler breezes. Nodding an acknowledgement to Sinestra's directions, Ensign Marie coaxes the hovercraft around the bend, banking the craft sharply such that for just a moment, the entire vehicle was nearly perpendicular to the muddy ground. It settles smoothly back to an even keel, just before its nose climbs as the vessel is forced to climb a steep, nearly sheer wall, with stones that crumble and slide away at their passing. The angle of their ascent is such that Breya has a difficult time seeing any flat, smooth areas ahead of them. For the most part, it is the sky that's ahead of them, as the engine of the hovercraft whines in its effort to push upward, ever upward. When the whining ceases and the nose drops suddenly, Breya gambles that they'd hit one of those flatter areas and kills the engines suddenly, dropping the craft on a craggy, mostly flat crevice attached to the face of the sheer cliff. Lionheart hearing the apology and seeing the the hovercraft drop to the floor, lands the hovercraft with extreme softness and doesn't make a sound. Looking in the back of the craft at Danik and says in a calm warm-hearted tone of voice,"Sir we have arrived at the desegnated spot."Lionheart then starts pushing and release buttons as he turns the tempature hotter degree by degree to get used to the heat of the planet. Turning on the com link he then calls the other craft and says,"Hovercraft Number Two has landed and I am ready to drop the doors. Also I am heating the craft to recognize the planet's temp." Lionheart then motions to the crew of one again that they had docked." Sinestro when you give me the command I will open the doors." At last, they had made it across the lake, safely, and arrived at the point. Patting Lionheart on the soldier, Kreldin placed his fedora back on his head and exited the hovercraft. Despite having crossed the dangerous part, it was still very hot and Kreldin continued to perspire; but he could handle it. "About time," he said, walking around the hovercraft and towards the first hovercraft piloting by Breya and occupied by their special advisor. As he arrived he took a quick look around the area, noting the caves and so-on. "Alright, Ms," he said, looking over at Sinestra. "Where to now?" he asked. "Thank you, pilot," Sinestra tells Breya as the hovercraft lands successfully, and intact. One third of their mission was complete. "The cave we want is the one directly above us, roughly ten meters ahead. The internal temperature will be slightly higher than it is out here, and there may be a higher concentration of gasses present further down in the cavern, so I highly recommend everyone take a rebreather mask along with them. There are some packed in the back of each of the vehicles." She already has hers in her backpack, and affixes it to the bridge of her goggles in a way that gives additional security to the strap in the back that otherwise keeps it in place. With a slight muffling due to the mask, she continues to unpack from the rear of the vehicle and talk at the same time. "It's entirely possible these caverns may hold the remains of victims of Trandoshanian violence, as they collect such things. If you stumble across any, please do not touch them, signal me immediately." There is a pause as she extracts a small droid from her pack, about the size of a large piece of fruit if not for the large silver hull. "As you may know, decomposing corpses harbor bacteria," she adds as some sort of idle warning before releasing the droid into the air. It whizzes around in circles in front of her, buzzing responsively before darting away. "If any of the native populace should arrive, they may not be entirely happy with our presence here, so keep alert. The scout should alert us to any signs of danger it perceives." "Once you have your gear, meet me at the top." Sinestra turns to face the cliff wall, finding that much of it is angled enough for cautious climbing, but sections that are more upright are riddled with tiny natural footholds and handgrips jutting out of the surface. She opts to take that route, and begins the more dangerous (if not more direct) climb. Little pebbles and dust go schluffing off the hillside with every grab and step she takes. Breya gives Sinestra an unreadable, flat look when she is thanked. Nodding her head in a respectful fashion, Ensign Marie acknowledges the sentiment before following the guide out of the vessel. The rocky plateau makes crunching noises as small stones crumble under foot as Breya makes her way to the rear compartment of the vessel. Carefully, the young, white-blond pilot extracts the rebreather and a holstered blaster from the compartment. After strapping the blaster to her thigh smuggler-style, she draws a band from one of the pockets of her jump-suit and proceeds to put her hair up in a firm pony-tail. With the back-strap of the rebreather fit snugly beneath the pony-tail, she stepped away from the still steaming hull of the hovercraft, moving towards the straight, sheer rock wall. At first, it seemed Breya was a natural at this sort of climbing. She held herself with poise, and the first few feet went effortlessly in the following of Ms. Starling, their guide. It was only the first few feet, however, that resembled grace. Completely missing one of the many good hand-holds, Breya's grip on the rock wall completely gives way. She fumbles in the air, scrabbling uselessly against the wall as though it were carved from smooth glass, until finally she falls away, arms flying to each side, falling like someone letting themselves go casually backwards into a cool lake on a hot summer's day. The rocky surface of the precipice was anything but cool or forgiving as water might be. The wind is immediately knocked from her in a rush, leaving her with nothing left as she tries to cry out. Stunned from the fall and the sudden, momentary pain, Breya simply lays there, waiting for her breath to come back, and her heartbeat to slow to something less like that of a small bird. "I'm okay," she says, weakly, before pushing herself over to get back up and try again. Lionheart hearing the command to climb the rocks gets out of the shuttle and arms his Kylan-3 heavy blaster then sets it back in it's holster. He starts to climb the rock cliff when a mid-sized rock falls in his face. Hanging on to his life the mission and all the people expecting him to make it through. He grips the cliff again and looks up at the ensign and yells,"Watch where your going will you!" After yelling that he starts to climb but misses and he himself the one who had been yelling at a previous mistake makes the mistake of not paying attention. He falls but only so far until he grips a ledge with all his power and pulls himself up. Finnaly after much delay he makes it to the top with no help from the woman he had mistakingly made a bad conversation with before in the hanger. Danik takes the breathing mask out of the back of the hovercar and places it over his face. Securing it, Kreldin walked over to the cliff and looked up. It was up there, and Kreldin had doubts he could make it; already Breya had fallen down flat, and Lionheart missed a step but regained himself. "I'll go the other way," Danik said, pointing over to the slope. Sure, it was longer, but certainly within his capabilities. Danik lifted his trench coat forward slightly and looked down at his shoulder holster; he unclipped it, but kept the Kylan-3 within it. He was all good to go. And so, he set off along the slope - so far by himself, as the others tried to brave the cliff. As Sinestra climbs, she takes the most direct path up the straight cliff face, pushing ahead as the others start their struggles below. Occasionally the hand or foot holds she has to reach require a hop, and when she stretches to make that reach, the tail of her shirt comes up from the waistband of her pants, revealing a rather odd sight for anyone who happens to be staring up at her in those particular moments; glimpses of a tattoo there, some kind of unidentifiable symbol that's mostly obscured because it seems to extend both ways from the viewing area, and the viewing area itself shifts with every inch of the rock face climbed. The part that might make it more noticable than average is that it's a bright shade of blue, the kind of bright that if someone didn't know better, they might think it was glowing just a bit. Once she's reached the top and pulled herself over, Sinestra dusts herself off and double checks her gear. In the process, the shirt is tucked back into her pants properly. That's when the silver droid she released a moment ago comes flittering back to her, hovering in the space around the back of her head before nuzzling up against her neck on one side by her ear as if whispering into it. The woman's head cocks to the side as if listening, then the droid skirts out ahead of her and darts left and right like an eager young pup awaiting a stick be thrown for fetching. "Keep an eye on the situation and let me know," is her response, aloud and in Basic. The droid bobs forward, mimicing a nod before zipping off across the terrain. Looking down, the raven-haired woman can now see the party is having trouble. Eyes pinch shut briefly, and she internally curses Malign for assigning her pilots for this mission- as surely it was his doing. That of course only strengthens her resolve to see this mission through with the personnel on hand. That would show him. After Lionheart reaches the top, Sinestra tells him, "Scout up ahead and make sure nothing's in the cave." The tenacity of the others is dually noted; she'll stand at the top and make sure none of them are in danger of taking a larger fall that might severely injure them while Lionheart handles that. Inside the cave, it's dark and musty, and grossly hot- mostly because there is no breeze to speak of. What lies beyond? With determination and vigor, Breya once again attacks the wall with redoubled effort, setting her footholds carefully and precisely before pulling and pushing her way up. Once more, the first few feet are covered with admirable grace and ease. Looking up after a few meters, she takes in the images of both Lionheart and Sinestra cresting the top. It's at that point that something out of the ordinary catches Breya's attention, something bluish and unnaturally glowing on Ms. Starling's back. It's then that her grip fails once again, and again, she begins to fall, much as she had before, but from a much more dangerous height. Surely she'd split her head open this time, rather than merely be winded. Miraculously, through some trick of the wind, some effort or will, or invisible angels materializing and catching Breya's back, the young ensign doesn't fall. For just a moment, she seems to defy gravity, her feet still firm in the footholds, her body away from the wall but not falling. Breya doesn't hesitate to marvel at the feeling, nor question her luck in that split second. The handhold she should have taken is there, and she grabs it, pulling herself back to the wall. The rest of her ascent goes without incident, much to her relief. Cresting the top and achieving the mouth of the cave, she starts to reach out to ask for assistance from Lionheart or Sinestra, but instead tucks her elbows and pulls herself the rest of the way, unassisted. She lays at the edge of the ledge a moment, catching her breath before pushing herself up to her feet, donning a cool, emotionless expression. Lionheart walks throguh the cave filled with darkness he finds a small pocket flashlight and yells,"I see just a standard cave. Wait... Wait I something! Its a damn trio of gizkas!" Lionheart starts to run back and pulls his blaster out fires once... Twice... Three times. Not knowing if he hit them he runs back almost tripping on his own two feet he jumps out of the cave and into the light."Ma'am I am not sure if I hit them," he replies to Sinestra now seeing that Breya has reached the top he says,"I hope you have a blaster on you kid. Danik was the smart one of the Imperial group, he figured. The others, both pilots, decided to brave the cliff; silly of them, considering they weren't really fit for it. Well, maybe Lionheart was, as he was making way, or so Danik perceived from where he was. Danik was almost there, walking along the slope, and he had a good vantage point of the others as they scaled up - and he was fortunate enough to have that good vantage point, for he saw something rather interesting. No, it wasn't the tattoo on Sinestra, as he was too far away to see it, but rather Ensign Marie's amazing stunt as she fell from the cliff once more - only to stop and float in the air for a few moments, before regaining her position back on the cliff. Was it a miracle? No. Danik had fought against Luke Skywalker, been tricked by Aurejin, battled fiercely with Ezkhil, watched in amazement the works of Morganna, Simon, Valak, Korolov, Malign, Vader, and others, and he knew right away what he was seeing. Could it be Breya? No.. someone with the Force couldn't possibly be just a simple pilot. Nor was it Lionheart. His eyes set upon Sinestra, who had reached the top. He frowned slightly. So she was one of them? Hah..makes sense why they assigned her to them. He would keep it on the down low for now. He heard blaster fire coming from his destination and so he immediately picked up his pace, running towards the cave entrance. He arrived a little bit after Breya made it to the top, exhaling and inhaling fast as he tried to regain his breath. "What's going on?" he asked, inquiring about the blaster fire, and then turned to Breya. "Had a bit of a fall, I see?" he asked rather quietly. "You did good though.." If Sinestra was responsible for Breya's recovery, she doesn't show any signs of it. Lionheart is behind her exploring the opening of the cave while she stares down at the two climbing their way up, one off in her peripheral vision while the other is the woman below. Upon Breya's reaching the top and pulling herself over the side, the female advisor turns and begins to walk away, leaving it to Danik to check on his pilot and ensure she's all right. That's when Lionheart opens fire on something inside the cave. Sinestra's head snaps up, the dusty goggles suppressing a flare of blue illuminating her eyes. "You best find out," is her reply to Lionheart, though fingers are clenching at her sides. Something isn't right here. Deep down in the belly of the cave, there is a rumble. The oddest breeze might be felt excavating from the cave's mouth and through it, as if something down below has stirred the stale air. With all the volcanic activity on this world, it isn't out of the realm of believability that this wasn't the most stable area to stop and go spelunking, but Sinestra doesn't look prepared to turn around and go back now. "Kill anything that moves," she informs the others. Eyes flare again, casting a pale blue glow across the insides of her goggles. Where had her droid gone? If Breya takes any insult from being addressed as "kid", she doesn't show it. Instead, she reaches down to the small, military issue pistol she'd acquired from the back of the hovercraft. It wasn't as heavy as the Kylan Danik was carrying, but it was appropriately sized for a pilot of Breya's stature. In another person's hands, it might have looked like a toy, but in her hands, it was like a hand cannon. "Thank you," she says to Danik as she pays him the brief compliment. It is all the time she spares him, however, as the blaster fire takes her attention. She watches as Lionheart re-emerges, and watches the exchange between Sinestra and Lionheart. A frown furrows her brow, and she holds the pistol ready, watching Danik or Ms. Starling. One of them would take the lead. And then she'd see if she could handle a blaster better than she could climb a wall. Lionheart breathing heavily from the encounter with the gizikas steadies his breathe and with a blank look on his face tells Sinestra in a whisper only so that she can hear it,"There is a trio of gizikas in there I heard 2 of them die but of the third one I can only imagine. I don't like this... I don't like this one bit. There is something here... Something that humans were not supposed to find. Something that the Trandosha's know that is not to be spoken or seen by even them!" Now Lionheart had started yelling almost. A yell to wake the devil. But as he thinks he calms himself and steadies his stance and says,"Well, lets proceed if you wish ma'am. Danik reached into his shoulder holster and quickly pulled the Kylan-3 out with his right hand. Spinning it around his index finger a bit, Danik snapped it into position and then turned his attention to the cave and Lionheart, who came out of it following his encounter with whatever was inside the cave. Danik takes a few steps forward, and stopped next to their advisor. The rumbling inside the cave took Danik off guard a bit, but he kept his composure. "What do you think, Ms. Starling? What'd he say was down there, Gizkas?" Danik asked, listening in on Lionheart's whisper to the lady. One of the reason Danik wasn't overly worried was because he was quiet confident in his conclusion of who this Starling character was. If she was who he thought she was, then Danik had no worries at all. As Lionheart began shouting, Kreldin frowned. "Would you keep it down? Stop yelling, get a hold of yourself." "We did not come all the way out here, /Ensign/, to abandon our primary objective." Those words are bitten out by Sinestra in Lionheart's direction as a result of his whispered outburst that winds up at quite a loud volume, though unlike his yelling, her own tone is a growl no louder than his initial whisper. She starts to point at the cave and demand- mostly of Lionheart, but since Danik asked, "You have a weapon, they don't. I assure you that they're more afraid of you than you are of them, though you are /certainly/ going to be less afraid of them than you are of me if you do not carry out your orders." He might see it, since she's staring at him- there's an electric sort of light reflecting on the insides of her goggles. "Get in there, an-..." Her voice cuts out as the small droid, which had entered the cave through a different corridor some distance away, comes shooting out of the opening in front of them like it's on fire with a shrill SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE in Binary. It does not stop to chat, it shoots clear past everyone and goes out about thirty feet before wrapping back around and cowering behind Sinestra. That's when another breeze comes rustling out of the cave, one of the remaining Gizka's hopping out into the light... Only to be snapped up by the gaping mouth of an ENORMOUS snake-like creature that devours it with ease. A flicker of its forked tongue tastes the air as its head sways left and right, the entire cave behind it filled with the girth of its body, slitted eyes regarding those remaining with a predatory stare. Lionheart's loss of heart is lost to Breya. He was expressing what was inside her, on some level; fear of the unknown, and an unwillingness to throw a good life away on some swampy, smelly planet away from friends and family. That she had no family that she know of was immaterial. She would have given some thought to Danik and Ms. Starling speaking to bring Ensign Crimson had it not been for the emergence of the screaming droid, and the giant, snake-like monster that hungrily consumed the gizka. It's then that fear consumes Breya. In front of her was a creature out of nightmares. Behind her, a sudden drop that would break her body, leaving her helpless to the harsh climate that was Trandosha. No where to run. No where to hide. Like any cornered creature, she does what comes natural: fight. Without thought or word, her blaster comes alive in her bland, red blast after red blast emitted from the muzzle, into the cave, at the creature that she would make pay dearly should it try to make a meal of her. Lionheart comes out of the clouds of fear with Danik shaking him vigorously. But then he hears a shrill as the annoying droid comes running out and catching a glimse of what he thinks is a gizika and then its gone. Like a leaf in a valcano just swept into an enormus creature's mouth. Relizing that this might just all be a dream. Lionheart stands up almost with no fear and stands tall to the monster. Face to face with the monster who could end his life he says in a very calm tone of voice,"Come at me with all you've got beast. I am not afraid of you."And by saying that the snake-like monster blows out a bit of fire at Lionheart ripping his shirt off and showing "The Tattos of The Gods" as it is written on his upper chest. And also taking with the remenents of his shirt his left pinky and his left ring finer. Lost in the abyss is a part of his hand. A Gizka? Danik was no expert on other species, much less creatures, but he knew that Gizkas were nothing more than harmless little creatures that hopped around from time to time. Not exactly something Danik would want as a pet, but, nothing to get worried about, either. He remains quiet as Ms. Starling scolds the young ensign, electing not to get on the lady's bad side. But before Danik could say anything at all, the poor, helpless Gizka was swallowed whole by the snake - this immediately put Danik on the defensive, his Kylan-3 raised up at the beast approaching. He didn't fire however; he realized how ineffective the Kylan-3 was in a situation like this. Quickly holstering the pistol, he reached back into his coat and unslung the AA-8 shotgun. Watching as the..fire came out from the snake, taking down Lionheart, Kreldin quickly turned about and grabbed Breya, who had been firing at the Snake, and took her to the side of the cliff to avoid getting hit by the flames herself. Hoping Sinestra faired just as well as Breya and himself, Danik aimed his shotgun into the cave and at the snake, and opened fire. Just after the snake lays waste to Lionheart, Breya's shots start to strike the beast. Blasts that impact against the reptile's scaly hide are fairly ineffective. As he turns to face the remaining trio, tongue darting out so close it almost laps across them, one of the bolts catches him squarely in the eye. The creature recoils, third eyelid sliding into place as it shies back from the pain, giving Danik that safe moment to get he and the female pilot further out of harm's way and switch weapons. As this is going on, Sinestra stands there looking exceptionally frustrated. How is she supposed to complete this mission with obstacles such as this? Grinding her teeth, she exhales a sharp breath and tilts her head to the side to look at the droid behind her. She whistles shortly to it, several quick and short notes, and it takes off down the side of the cliff behind her. It begins to circle the hovercraft parked below as Sinestra pulls a cryobang grenade out of her backpack and hucks it at the reptile, which is rasping angrily as it falls under direct assault from the AA-8. Those shotgun blasts are much more powerful and are causing it pain through the scales, making it shrink back into the darkness. When the Cryobang goes in after it and detonates, a frosty blue patch of ice crackles out and forms against the warm terrain around the cave's mouth, chilling the air for a moment. In heat like this, the cold wouldn't last long, so two more are hurled into the maw of the cavern to try and drive the creature back. Statements of the obvious ensue. "We're aborting the mission. Return to the hovercraft at once." That's when the tiny droid returns, several loops of durable rope strung around its body, settled into the low point where the torso meets the tail fin. Sinestra snatches it up, tossing a length to the two pilots still conscious, taking the remainder and tying a loop into it so she can lasso a nearby outcropping of rocks by the cave's mouth. A solid tug shores up the line and secures it into place, and she reaches to grab Lionheart so she can drag him back there herself. She'd repel her way down and take the chance that the rope won't hold rather than slide down the incline and run the risk of overshooting the hovercraft and falling to her death. Breya is a tangle of mixed feelings as she is cast out of the way of the wrath of the fire-breathing snake monster. She is initially upset that Danik would knock her off her feet, again winding her as she is dropped onto stones. Relief quickly washes away the anger as flames and smoke fill the area she had just been standing in. The rest seems to happen so fast, she doesn't know what to make of it. One moment, she's blinking back tears from the sulphurous stink of the snake monster's breath. The next, her ears are ringing from the sound of grenades, and her skin shivering with the sudden cold. And then, suddenly, ropes, and the call to abort. "But. the mission? I thought this was vitally important," Breya stammers, her hands still working the rope around her waist. She turns a cerulean gaze back towards the cave as she continues, "Isn't it. dead?" Danik smiled as his shotgun appeared to be of some use; the creature was taking damage, slowly moving away from the group. It gave them some time, at least. Time enough for their advisor to hurl some cryoban grenades in the snake's direction. Personally, Danik probably would have used some sort of explosives, but then again, they wanted to get into this cave, not destroy it. Then came Sinestra's call for evacuation. He stopped firing his shotgun and stood up, looking perplexed. "Calling the mission off? But why? I think we can take that thing," he said, looking back at the snake. "We have to finish our mission!" Apparently Breya agreed with him, and he was happy to hear that; but, maybe Sinestra was right. Maybe he wasn't right about her Force powers? Maybe she didn't want to reveal it. In any case, he felt he was overstepping his line of authority. "I don't mean disrespect, but, aren't we being a bit too hasty?" he said as he grabbed ahold of a piece of the rope. Well, if the lady said they had to go, then, they had no other choice. Lionheart is about to be hoisted up onto her shoulder when Danik and Breya voice their resistance to the idea. She wanted this badly, but one of the pilots had already been given the extra crispy treatment and was missing part of his hand as a result. "It's not dead," is her reply to Breya, her tone matter-of-fact. "If you two really want to dive headlong into its den with those weapons and see how you fare, you are more than welcome to." She doesn't look quite so prepared to do the same. Another warning is issued, "Those cryobangs won't keep the entrance cold for long, and when the ice melts away, it's going to come back out here whether we're ready for it or not, so I suggest you decide fast what it is you want to do." She seems to be leaving the ball in their court. Ensign Marie was not the one in charge, and it wasn't her decision. She had been given the unusual opportunity to interject opinion, however. Her eyes still transfixed on the dark recesses of the cave, she speaks her mind. "If we can't kill it, then we can't kill it, and retreating with our lives is the best thing we can do. However," she pauses to look dispassionately at Lionheart's unconscious form, his mutilated hand in particular, "if there is a possibility of proceeding, then we should. Out of respect for the price which has already been paid getting us this far." Slipping the military issue pistol back into the holster at her waist, Breya steps closer to Sinestra and Lionheart, taking the unconscious pilot's heavier blaster and holding it ready. She turns to Danik and says to him, "It is your decision, of course, sir. I will observe the proper chain of command." Breathing heavily, Danik just looked bleakly at Sinestra as she told them the blunt truth. Danik didn't like failing; he despised it, which is why he rarely gave up. He paid for it a few times throughout his twenty-something year long career, but most of the time it worked out. But, he knew Sinestra was right and Danik trusted her. He then turned to acknowledge Breya, and just let out a brief sigh. "Well, you're right about one thing," he said, his eyes touching upon Lionheart for a brief moment. "But...I'm afraid Ms. Starling is right," he said, and slung his AA-8 back over his shoulder. Something was fishy about the whole thing, though. If his suspicions of Ms. Starling were correct, then she could easily slaughter the snake. Shaking his head, Danik just secured himself to the rope and prepared to make his escape with the others. "Let's get out of here. I think Lionheart needs some immediate medical attention, anyway.." In silence, they left the mouth of the cave, the ice from the cryobangs dissolving in the harsh, Trandoshan heat. Sinestra bore the weight of the unconscious Ensign Lionheart Crimson. Breya and Danik bore the weight of futility, each feeling the frustration of coming and being turned away, in their own way. The ropes held them as they returned to the hovercraft. Danik took the controls of the vessel Lionheart had flown, the unconscious pilot sitting beside him with a hastily formed bandage covering the worst part of his wounds. The journey back to the space craft was uneventful. In the light of what they'd just faced, and in the dying light of the setting sun, Breya showed no sign of incompetence or unfamiliarity with the controls of her ship, and both vessels made their way across the superheated mud and flows. In the final light, with shadows stretching long like fingers reaching out to take hold of the departing, unwanted guests, the creature returned to the entrance of its home, it's ruined eye unseeing, it's other eye filled with pain and rage. It bellowed out a furious sound, its challenge echoing down the cliff, unheard except by a few leathery winged birds, startled into sudden flight. Trandoshan Expedition, The